Lappet-faced vulture  (Torgos tracheliotos)

The remaining small and declining population of lappet-faced vultures is suffering from a variety of threats across its range, but owes its demise particularly to poisoning and persecution. Widespread accidental poisoning has occurred through these birds feeding on bait treated with strychnine and other poisons that are intended for mammalian predators, left out by farmers in order to protect their livestock. However, this vulture has also often been mistakenly accused of preying on livestock itself, and consequently persecuted by farmers. One particularly devastating deliberate poisoning incident killed 86 lappet-faced vultures in Namibia (2). A rising scarcity of large carcasses on which to feed may also be a problem (9). Additionally, this species is particularly sensitive to nest disturbance, which may sadly be growing with increasing road construction and recreational use of off-road vehicles (2). Like other bird species, this vulture has been known to fall victim to electrocution by high-voltage pylons and power lines (5). As a result of such threats, many local populations are gradually becoming extinct.

The lappet-faced vulture breeds in a number of protected areas within its extensive range, and ongoing ecological research is being conducted, particularly on the T. t. negevensis subspecies in Saudi Arabia and on T. t. tracheliotos in southern Africa. There is an urgent need to raise awareness amongst farmers of the plight of this species and the decimating effects both persecution and accidental poisoning are having (2). Thus, farmer-awareness programmes are one of the key initiatives proposed in the action plan for this species, which was created in 2005, along with ongoing research and an awareness campaign to reduce nest disturbance (9). International cooperation and concerted conservation effort will be required if further localised extinctions are to be prevented, a fate sadly already realised in a number of North African countries and Israel.